Quote by Adam M. Grant

“While painting The Last Supper, Leonardo would sometimes stare at the work for an hour, finally make one small stroke, and then leave. He…

— Walter Isaacson

“Productive mediocrity requires discipline of an ordinary kind. It is safe and threatens no one. Nothing will be changed by mediocrity. . . . But genius is…

— Adam M. Grant

“Leonardo had almost no schooling and could barely read Latin or do long division. His genius was of the type we can understand, even…

— Walter Isaacson

“When Leonardo was painting The Last Supper (fig. 74), spectators would visit and sit quietly just so they could watch him work. The creation…

— Walter Isaacson

Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have…

— Kenneth Clark

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.

— Max Beerbohm

“Even some of his commissions that were completed, or almost so—Ginevra de’ Benci and the Mona Lisa, for example—were never delivered to clients. Leonardo…

— Walter Isaacson

He [Bernardo Bertolucci] has the kind of talent that breaks one's heart: where can it go, what will happen to it? In this country…

— Pauline Kael

“Leonardo received an adequate education, learning basic Latin, mathematics, and geography. He was never a stellar student, instead finding his attentions on things other…

— Hourly History

Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor…

— Anonymous

“Creativity is fragile; if you don't nurture it, it can die, leaving you recycling old ideas and pretending they're fresh. It's a sure road…

— Lee Silber

Ah, he has too many ideas, that man da Vinci. His mind works faster than his hands.

— Sarah Dunant